18th Century Courtesan

At the turn of the 20th century, Industrial Revolution inventions brought technological advancements to printmaking that ushered in a Golden Age of American illustration. Publishers and calendar companies developed new techniques for producing multi-color offset lithographs that were fast, affordable, and flat-out glorious to view, blurring the distinction between fine art and "art for commerce." As artists realized the fidelity with which their originals could be reproduced, they began working in a technically elevated style. Their illustrations were used as covers, interior vignette story board paintings and in long-running iconic advertising campaigns such as  “Cream of Wheat,” which premiered a new illustration each month in The Saturday Evening Post. The best examples by the finest commercial illustrators were very much in demand, as they are again today.